The document outlines several key skills of the social work professional, including empathy, self-awareness, boundary setting, active listening, social perceptiveness, critical thinking, and strong written and verbal communication abilities. A social worker must be able to understand others' perspectives, evaluate their own performance, maintain appropriate boundaries, listen carefully, pick up on social and verbal cues, think critically about each case, and document cases clearly in writing. These diverse skills allow social workers to wear many hats and help meet the varied needs of all clients who seek their assistance.

1. Skills of the Social Work Professional
Presenter
Carolene Fraser
Jamaica W.I.

2. Introduction
social work is a practice-based profession and an
academic discipline that promotes social change
and development, social cohesion, and the
empowerment and liberation of people often
requiring a practitioner to wear many hats on any
given day: adviser, therapist, caretaker,
administrator, clinician and many others.

3. SkillsSkills of the Social Workof the Social Work
ProfessionalProfessional
According to USC University of SouthernAccording to USC University of Southern
California Staff (2011) & Joshua John (2012)California Staff (2011) & Joshua John (2012)

4. Empathy
Empathy is the ability to identify with or
vicariously experience another person’s
situation. Empathizing is both an intellectual and
emotional process that makes it far easier to
understand and help others solve their problems.
Most social workers are empathetic by nature; in
fact, empathy is a major reason people enter the
profession.

5. Self-Awareness
Social workers routinely receive feedback on
their performance from clients, supervisors and
other sources, but there is no substitute for self-
awareness. Being able to evaluate one’s own
performance and work toward improving it
(while also taking valid criticism and praise into
account) is an invaluable skill.

6. Boundary Setting
In addition to being empathetic, a social worker
must also maintain the capacity to set boundaries
and accept the limits of what can be
accomplished during a specified period of time.
The nature of the profession can be all
consuming, especially for those who sense their
work is never truly complete. Establishing
boundaries and setting milestones can help set
expectations that are more easily accepted.

7. Active Listening
The ability to listen carefully, ask pertinent
questions and retain verbally transmitted
information is vital to the counseling aspect of
social work. It’s how we establish trust, open
doors and discover valuable details about the
individuals who seek our help in understanding
their unique circumstances.

8. Social Perceptiveness
In addition to receiving and processing verbal
information, a social worker must be sensitive to
body language, social cues, implications and
cultural patterns of behavior. While some clients
may clearly state their needs and work toward
solutions in a focused manner,

9. Social perceptiveness Cont'd
many others will find it more challenging to
express themselves verbally, requiring a
perceptive social worker to “read between the
lines” in order to interpret the thoughts and
feelings being held within.

10. Critical Thinking
How a social worker interprets data obtained not
only through observation, interviews, and case
file/document review but also clinical
supervision, research, and consultation
influences the client’s assessment, diagnosis,
treatment, evaluation, and termination.

11. Critical Thinking Cont'd
Critical thinking asks the social worker to consider
how his motivations, assumptions, expectations, and
biases (self-awareness) shape the lens through which
he analyzes and draws conclusions from the
available data.

12. Written And Verbal Communication
“If it isn’t documented, it never happened” is
one of the first lessons learned in almost any
social work employment, particularly if
programs are accountable to public or private
funders. Micro-level practitioners gain
legitimacy with their supervisors and colleagues
by writing clear and concise progress notes,
correspondence, and reports.

13. Written And Verbal Communication
Cont'd
Verbal communication involves actively listening
to understand and speaking to be understood by
your audience. As a result, a social worker may alter
her communication style multiple times during a
single workday to maximize her effectiveness with
clients, colleagues, supervisors, or community
members.

14. Conclusion
The skills of the social work professional are endless
due to the diversity of our society.Social Worker are
called to fulfilled many roles which see the Social
Worker as a generalist practitioner trying to meet the
need of all who seeks their help.

15. The End
The End